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• Paramount owners Larry and David Ellison want to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
• They are reportedly getting help from the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.
• Foreign investors have put money into American media companies before. But this seems meaningfully different.

A deal to combine Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery would create a media behemoth.

And that behemoth could be partially owned by the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.

So says Variety, reporting that David and Larry Ellison, who own Paramount and are bidding to buy WBD, are using money from those countries’ sovereign wealth funds to finance their proposed deal.

If that story sounds familiar, there’s a good reason: In November, Variety reported more or less the same thing — which prompted Paramount to call the story “categorically inaccurate”.

But even at the time, it didn’t seem implausible that Middle Eastern oil money would be used to help the Ellisons buy WBD. And other outlets had suggested the Ellisons might partner with the Saudis, among others.

Now Variety is doubling down on its initial report. Bloomberg also reports that “Middle East funds” are involved in the Ellisons’ bid. A Paramount rep declined to comment; I’ve also reached out to the sovereign wealth funds.

But as I noted before, the fact that it’s even possible that Middle Eastern petrostates could have ownership stakes in a giant American media conglomerate — one that would control major movie studios, streaming networks, and news outlets — tells us a lot about 2025. A few years ago, this would have seemed like a non-starter; now it seems quite close to happening.

That’s because Paramount, which is competing with Netflix and Comcast in the WBD bidding, still seems like the most likely WBD owner when all of this is done. That’s partially because Paramount is offering to buy all of WBD, while Comcast and Netflix only want part of it. And partially because the Ellisons — Larry Ellison in particular — are close to Donald Trump, and we live in a world where people close to Donald Trump often get what they want.

In the absence of anyone involved in the deal talking to me on the record, I can imagine some arguments why a petrostate-backed mega-media conglomerate makes sense:

• The funds would presumably have minority stakes in a combined Paramount/WBD, and it would presumably remain controlled by Americans.
• Foreign investors have frequently owned some or all of big, American-based media companies: See, for instance, Japan’s Sony, which owns a major movie studio and music label. And Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was a longtime minority investor in Rupert Murdoch’s Fox empire; now he has a stake in the company formerly known as Twitter.
• The Saudi sovereign wealth fund is already set to own almost all of video game giant Electronic Arts, and no one seems to have an issue with that.

A Middle East-financed deal for WBD could raise some eyebrows

All true! But I still think that there are differences that will certainly raise eyebrows, and maybe more forceful pushback, if a combined Ellison/Middle East deal goes forward.

One obvious point: It’s one thing to have a private company or investor from another company taking a stake in an American media giant; it’s another to have one that’s directly controlled by a foreign government.

Another one: As media companies continue to consolidate, the power of the remaining ones gets amplified. On their own for instance, CBS News and CNN have dwindling influence and financial power; a company that combines the two, though, might have more meaningful sway. You can argue that the Saudis owning one of the world’s biggest video game companies is also meaningful, but the video game industry never gets the attention it deserves, and that seems likely to continue in this case.

And last: It’s possible that Middle Eastern countries are investing in an American media conglomerate solely for a financial return, and would have zero interest in the content that conglomerate makes and distributes. But that’s an assertion that many folks would have a hard time taking at face value. And while lots of American companies have sought Middle Eastern funding for years, there was a pause after 2018, following the murder and dismemberment of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi — a shocking act the CIA concluded was ordered by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself. (He has denied involvement.)

Now bin Salman might end up owning a piece of major American news outlets and other media arms. How’s that going to go over?

• AI is a powerful tool to use to analyze the large troves of HR data within companies.
• Companies can use AI analysis to identify workforce talent and skills gaps.
• This article is part of “How AI is Changing Talent“, a series exploring how AI is reshaping hiring, development, and retention.

As technology continues to advance and companies look to remain competitive in meeting market demand, the skills that employees will need are also evolving. A growing number of companies are exploring how to address these skills and workforce gaps with artificial intelligence.

HR can use AI to reveal “patterns and gaps” and benchmark “current workforce skills against evolving business needs or industry trends,” said Lauren Winans, CEO and principal human resources consultant at Next Level Benefits.

What AI offers in this realm isn’t exactly new, said Will Howard, practice lead of HR trends and AI at McLean & Company. HR teams have long collected and analyzed workforce data manually, he said, but AI can make the process more “feasible and efficient” through automation.

Here, HR experts share four factors to consider when using AI to identify workforce and skills gaps:

1. Organize your data

Organizations have troves of HR data, such as job advertisements, performance reviews, and employee job histories and training, that can be mined to uncover skills gaps, said Sanmay Das, associate director of AI for Social Impact at Virginia Tech. But this data often lacks “quality and completeness,” Winans said.

Before adopting AI, organizations must embrace “good data hygiene” by ensuring the data they plan to analyze is accurate, current, and consistent, said George Denlinger, operational president of US technology talent solutions at Robert Half.

Otherwise, AI insights will be limited or inaccurate. “The phrase ‘garbage in, garbage out’ rings especially true here,” Howard said.

Companies need a clear and consistent process for collecting, maintaining, and updating workforce data, Howard said. For instance, standardize job descriptions, including specific skills, knowledge, and activities, so that AI can make accurate comparisons.

2. Analyze the insights

Large language models, like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, can summarize and report on data, Das said. But, for a deeper analysis, companies often need specialized AI tools designed for HR, including workforce planning and analytics, Howard said. Workday and Disco are some examples.

Ultimately, AI tools can leverage your existing data and identify strengths and weaknesses in your workforce, Denlinger said.

For example, with data on employee performance for a specific project and sales forecasts, AI could suggest the skills or roles necessary to meet the organization’s future demands, Howard said. Examining an employee’s job and training history, AI could quantify their capacity to acquire new skills via upskilling or reskilling, Winans said.

IBM, for example, uses an AI system that analyzes its employees’ digital footprints within the company to identify their skills and predict skill proficiency levels. The company then uses that analysis to offer employees personalized educational opportunities and career coaches, helping them identify job opportunities and new career paths. In 2024, IBM reported that the approach had boosted employee engagement by 20%.

3. Understand AI’s limitations

While AI can analyze data, it may overlook nuances and the human aspects of what makes a role successful, such as small tasks not listed in a job description, soft skills, or the behind-the-scenes efforts employees put in, Das said.

Companies should also focus on data privacy, trust, and employee buy-in, Winans said. Employees may worry about how their data is being used and how it could impact them, such as changes to their roles or responsibilities. She suggested communicating transparently about what data will be used, how it will be used, and why.

Data literacy is another challenge: HR teams must know what to do with the AI results, Howard said. “Even the most advanced AI technology still requires a human to put the results into a business context and communicate and take action on the insights within the organization.”

For instance, the AI analysis on skills gaps should inform decisions about new roles the company needs to create or the training necessary for existing employees, Winans said.

4. Refine your strategy

“Skill requirements evolve rapidly,” Winans said. Using AI to uncover skills gaps should be a “continuous process, not a one-time audit,” she added.

While AI can be useful for tracking ongoing skills gaps, Denlinger said this is still an emerging use of the technology that will likely evolve.

Al also isn’t a “silver bullet that can take you from zero to best in class,” Howard said. “Organizations shouldn’t view AI as a shortcut. It still requires the foundational skills and structures that have always been there,” such as clean data and employees confident in using the technology.

Then, he said, AI “becomes the cherry on top that can take your workforce planning and data analysis to the next level.”

• The 2025 Gotham Awards took place in New York City on Monday.
• Celebrities like Tessa Thompson and Jacob Elordi wore stylish outfits to the awards ceremony.
• Other stars, including Rihanna and Zoey Deutch, wore looks that missed the mark.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and no, I don’t mean the holidays. Awards season is officially upon us.

On Monday, the Gotham Film and Media Institute hosted its annual Gotham Awards, which celebrate independent films, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Stars from some of the biggest movies of the year gathered in lower Manhattan dressed to the nines for the unofficial start to the race for the Academy Awards.

While some celebrities nailed their red carpet looks, others wore outfits that fell flat. Here were some of the best and worst looks of the night.

“Sentimental Value” star Renate Reinsve arrived in an eye-catching, architectural gown.

Reinsve chose a red satin dress for the Gotham Awards.

The gown’s high neckline was accented by an oversized bow that sat at the back of her neck, which Reinsve highlighted by wearing her hair in a sleek updo. The bodice of the gown formed a point at her waist, creating cutouts on either side of her torso.

The skirt ruched slightly at the waist before flowing to the floor in a column style. Chic and structured, the gown was one of the best on the red carpet.

Rihanna’s pink look from Balenciaga had potential, but it didn’t quite work.

The pink gown featured an off-the-shoulder neckline that formed short sleeves, revealing black gloves that covered nearly all of Rihanna’s arms.

The bodice bubbled out to her upper thigh, where it formed a dropped-waist skirt and flowed into a dramatic train. A pink and black necklace and a pink headpiece, which coordinated with the dress, tied the look together.

Elements of Rihanna’s outfit were strong, such as the color scheme and neckline, but overall, the look just had too much going on. The outfit could have been stronger if the dress had a simpler silhouette and Rihanna had opted not to wear a hat.

Jacob Elordi’s textured coat made his simple suit pop.

Elordi attended the Gotham Awards in a charcoal suit with a patterned green tie.

The suit was nice, but Elordi made the look truly stylish by wearing a gray, knee-length coat atop it. The subtle texture and longer length of the garment brought dimension to Elordi’s classic suit.

The floral appliqué on Li Jun Li’s white gown was stunning.

Li, who played Grace Chow in “Sinners,” arrived at the Gotham Awards in a cream gown.

Much of the bodice of Li’s dress was sheer, with three-dimensional floral appliqués covering the top and a line down the center. The line of flowers led to the low-waisted skirt, which was also slightly see-through and gathered in the center in pleats before flowing out into a train.

With delicate silver jewelry, Li’s look felt fresh and effortless.

Zoey Deutch’s feathered gown may have worked better in a different color.

Deutch arrived at the Gotham Awards in a short-sleeved, yellow dress from Prada. The entire dress was covered in feathers, from the scooped neckline to the floor-length skirt.

Although feathers can be fun, the sheer volume of them on this gown seemed to swallow Deutch. Plus, the bright color combined with the pattern was unfortunately reminiscent of Big Bird, which didn’t seem to be what Deutch was going for.

The dress may have been more successful in a different color that made the feathers feel less over-the-top.

Ruffled detailing made Tessa Thompson’s gown stand out.

Schiaparelli designed Thompson’s silver dress. It had a one-shoulder neckline, with layers of fabric creating large ruffles on the shoulder. The fitted bodice flared slightly at her waist to create a small peplum, contrasting with the sheath skirt.

Silver accessories, including playful cuffed earrings, completed the chic outfit.

Hilaria Baldwin’s floral minidress wasn’t a great choice for the event.

Baldwin shared on Instagram that she bought the Zimmermann dress she wore to the Gotham Awards after seeing it in the shop’s window the day before the event. The floral minidress was certainly pretty, with spaghetti straps, a corset bodice, and a layered skirt.

However, it looked out of place on the December red carpet, which was full of full-length gowns. Additionally, Baldwin’s accessories also seemed disjointed, particularly between her funky, sparkly heels and her more classic pearl jewelry.

Zimmermann makes a version of the same dress with a longer pencil skirt, which may have worked better for the Gotham Awards, especially if Baldwin had stuck to one aesthetic for her accessories.

Chase Infiniti’s Louis Vuitton gown was sleek and stylish.

Infiniti’s velvet Louis Vuitton gown — custom-designed for the “One Battle After Another” star — had a high neckline, pointed shoulders, and long sleeves.

Round cutouts on either side of the bodice broke up the gown, while the skirt hugged her figure before transitioning into a subtle train. She wore sparkly jewelry with the sophisticated gown.

Teyana Taylor’s top and skirt looked a bit disjointed together.

A voluminous skirt was the star of Taylor’s Chanel ensemble. Belted at the waist, it was adorned with red and white feathers and had a high-low hemline that created a dramatic train. The hemline also showed off Taylor’s white and black shoes.

The skirt was fabulous, but it would have made more of a statement with a different top, as Taylor wore it with a silky, cream-colored T-shirt. A fitted top or a shirt with a more interesting neckline would have worked better.

Elle Fanning elevated her white gown with statement jewelry.

Fanning kept her outfit simple but beautiful for the Gotham Awards, wearing a white Ralph Lauren dress.

The gown’s halter neckline dipped to her waist and had an open back, while the chiffon skirt, which was slightly sheer, flowed to the floor.

Cartier jewelry, including a statement choker and bracelet, added a glitzy edge to Fanning’s ensemble.

There was too much color contrast in Alexander Skarsgård’s suit.

Skarsgård’s custom Valentino suit, designed by Alessandro Michele, featured a black shirt, black trousers, a cream tie, and a shiny pink jacket.

The pink jacket was fun on the red carpet, but there were too many different colors in Skarsgård’s look to make the jacket really stand out. If he had worn a pink tie or opted for a white shirt, the colors may have worked better together.

Riley Keough popped in red at the Gotham Awards.

The bodice of Keough’s Chanel gown was red with a subtle ruched pattern. The high neckline and long sleeves were trimmed with black ruffles, complementing the dropped-waist skirt, which was made of tiered black, red, and white fabric.

She paired the gown with open-toed black shoes, silver hoops, and loose waves in her hair, creating a look that was funky and stylish.

• Videos of what appear to be the inside of JPMorgan’s new headquarters are popping up on TikTok.
• They show a gym with floor-to-ceiling windows, indoor plants, and a Super Bowl ring.
• One video shows beer foam with an image of the building and a store in the building with 270 merch.

You don’t need to be a JPMorgan employee to see inside the bank’s new soaring Manhattan headquarters. You just need to open TikTok.

As the bank’s employees begin to populate the 60-story, $3 billion skyscraper at 270 Park Avenue, a select few are uploading videos of what appear to be the interior of the tower, which boasts a food court with 19 restaurants, a gym, and biometric scanning.

One of the most detailed videos was posted in late November and takes viewers through art installations, restaurants, and the lobby with a perpetually waving flag. Art includes sculptures, posters, and paintings, according to the video.

The TikToker dines at Morgan’s, the building’s pub, and sips a beer whose foam features an image of 270 Park itself. A page of the menu shows $14 cocktails, like a hot toddy and a martini.

There’s even a store inside the building, according to the video, with everything from candlesticks to trendy olive oil to skincare; a sign in the store references Chase’s small business partnerships. Shoppers can also choose from branded merchandise, including 270 Park coffee beans and JPM apparel.

The tower features a lounge-type space with an electric fireplace, coffee table books, and a monitor.

One now-deleted video uploaded on October 7 documented an apparent employee’s morning in the building — she spun through the revolving doors before 6 am, scanned her hand to enter the lobby, and walked up shallow stone steps below an American flag.

The video took viewers inside the locker room and gym, with rows of cardio machines, a turf area for stretching, and floor-to-ceiling windows.

Shampoo and body wash line the shower, according to the video seen by Business Insider, and the office space itself has massive windows and indoor plants.

Another offers views from inside all-white elevators and the gym as the sun rises over Midtown. By 7:15 am, the TikToker is typing at her desk.

One other TikTok purportedly showing the 1,388-foot-tall headquarters features indoor plants, escalators, abstract wall art, and even an indoor rendering of what appears to be the exterior of 270 Park Avenue.

The video shows JPMorgan-emblazoned golf clubs signed by Rory McIlroy and a Patriots Super Bowl ring, which is also featured in another TikTok. A representative for JPMorgan Chase did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider or confirm the presence of the clubs and ring.

Yet it’s far from all play and no work inside the new headquarters — a post on X from Michael Dell shows rows of Dell monitors from what appears to be a trading floor.

Some outside the bank are posting about the shiny skyscraper, too, like the TikToker who uploaded a video about using their lunch break to gaze at the building from the street. Another set footage of the exterior against the “Succession” theme music.

The internet seems hungry for more 270 intel.

“Can you do more content like this?” one commenter pleaded, with another asking, “Can you show us more!”

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at atecotzky@insider.com or Signal at alicetecotzky.05. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.

• Michael and Susan Dell are investing $6.25 billion into “Trump accounts.”
• Trump accounts are also set to receive a $1,000 grant from the federal government.
• For Dell, a $1,000 investment helped launch his computer company from his dorm room in 1984, now worth $90.6 billion.

Michael and Susan Dell are pledging to invest billions of dollars into “Trump accounts,” which will also receive a $1,000 seed from the federal government.

For Dell, $1,000 has a special resonance.

It’s the same amount of money that he initially invested in his company, Dell Technologies, as a student at the University of Texas in 1984. Today, the entrepreneur is the 11th wealthiest person in the world, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, with a net worth of $148 billion as of December 1.

In his 2021 book, “Play Nice but Win,” Dell marvels at the early success of his business despite its relatively modest initial investment.

“Our sales were growing by the week, as was our ragtag band of mercenaries and buccaneers. On the face of it, it made no sense,” Dell wrote. “Here I was, twenty years old, a college dropout with a capital base of $1,000, saying: ‘Hey, who wants to come work in this company?'”

Dell launched the company in 1984 as PC’s Limited. It became one of the fastest growing companies in the country, raking in more than $6 million in sales in its first year of business. The company was renamed to Dell Computer Corp. a few years later in 1987, and went public in 1988, raising $30 million.

Today, Dell Technologies has a market cap of $90.6 billion.

In 1999, Dell revisited his old dorm room and was photographed in it.

Of course, $1,000 isn’t quite what it used to be: That amount in 1984 is the equivalent of nearly $3,200 today, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Inflation Calculator.

“Trump accounts” are guided by the idea that a modest initial investment can grow over time and serve as a way for younger Americans to grow wealth.

“It enables every newborn child in America to experience the enormous benefits of compounded growth, and to accumulate significant resources with the passage of time,” Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, an early proponent of the idea, told Business Insider in May. “It creates a generation of new capitalists.”

The Dells are pledging a total of $6.25 billion in charitable contributions to Trump accounts.

In addition to the $1,000 from the government, the Dells will pay $250 into the accounts of children who are 10 years or younger, born before January 1, 2025, and who live in zip codes where the median income is $150,000 or less.

Dell has also said that his company will match the $1,000 contribution from the federal government for Dell employees.

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly declared a “code red.”
• Google once did the same amid the rise of ChatGPT.
• While Altman once quipped that he tried not to spend much time thinking about competitors, those days appear to be over.

Two “code red” alerts — the first from a veteran tech giant worried about a buzzy AI upstart, the second from the AI upstart after the tech giant gained ground.

What a difference three years can make.

News of a recent Sam Altman memo to OpenAI employees, first reported by The Information, is reverberating around the tech world and highlighting the competitive heat it’s facing as Google narrows the gap in the AI race.

On Monday, Altman reportedly told OpenAI employees in an internal Slack memo that he was issuing a “code red” and that the company would be putting more resources into ChatGPT and delaying other products as a result.

Altman’s memo illustrates just how much the AI race has changed. In 2022, Google’s management issued its own “code red” in the wake of ChatGPT’s launch, a moment that illustrated in sharp relief just how far behind the search giant was in the AI race despite financing the breakthrough research that paved the way for AI’s development.

Three years later, it’s clear that OpenAI’s throne is under threat. Here are some of the pressure points it’s facing as Google nips at its heels.

Google is catching up

The elephant in the OpenAI room is Google’s Gemini 3 AI model, which debuted to widespread praise.

The model’s capabilities demonstrated that Google is no longer far behind in the AI race. It’s not just OpenAI that’s unnerved, either. Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company by market cap, recently found itself defending its AI chips after a report about Google’s own chip progress.

The search giant said in November that Gemini had more than 650 million monthly active users, a large increase from the 450 million such users it reported in July. In comparison, OpenAI has said nearly 800 million weekly active users.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently said that he was ditching ChatGPT in favor of Gemini 3 because of Gemini’s “insane” improvement.

“Holy shit,” Benioff wrote on X last month. “I’ve used ChatGPT every day for 3 years. Just spent 2 hours on Gemini 3. I’m not going back. The leap is insane — reasoning, speed, images, video… everything is sharper and faster. It feels like the world just changed, again.”

Last month, Google launched “Nano Banana Pro,” its AI image generator, showcasing hyper-realistic images that users quickly used to imagine tech CEOs hanging out together or pretend famous Thanksgiving dinner table guests.

Altman’s “code red,” according to The Information’s report, specifically mentions Gemini 3 and teases a coming OpenAI model that it says tested “ahead” of Google’s flagship model, as well as mentions prioritizing OpenAI’s Imagegen image generation model for ChatGPT users.

Google’s advertising cash cow can fund its AI — while OpenAI faces a $1.4 trillion bill

The AI game is an expensive one, and Google has the advantage of being a cash-generating advertising juggernaut.

Sure, Google plans to spend between $91 billion and $93 billion this year on cap ex, much of which is going toward AI costs. But it also brought in $100 billion in revenue in just the last quarter alone — $74.18 billion of which came from its advertising business.

And unlike OpenAI, Google can leverage its massive size for a full-stack advantage, allowing it to control AI development from research to chip manufacturing to its in-house cloud, which hosts everything.

Meanwhile, some on Wall Street have raised concerns about OpenAI’s mounting AI spending commitments, which tally at least $1.4 trillion over the next eight years. In response, Altman has said OpenAI is on track to bring in $20 billion in revenue this year, and expects its annualized revenue to grow to hundreds of billions in the coming years.

But OpenAI is still figuring out its own ads business — the launch of which could be delayed by Altman’s “code red,” according to The Information.

OpenAI has a head start — but Google has a platform advantage

OpenAI hasn’t squandered its head start, and it’s landed some major wins this year.

In recent months, OpenAI has made significant plays into other industries, including social media with Sora, its TikTok-esque AI video generation app. In a direct shot at Google Chrome, OpenAI also launched Atlas, its own web browser.

And it sounds like OpenAI has more up its sleeve as it battles the bottleneck of lining up enough compute and energy to power its developments.

OpenAI executives have said compute constraints are holding back other initiatives, like making ChatGPT Pulse, a personalized update feature within the chatbot for Pro users, available to everyone. Last week, Bill Peebles, OpenAI’s head of Sora, announced that free users would face significant cuts in the number of videos they could generate per day.

ChatGPT also remains synonymous with AI — not unlike Google and online search. That will likely help continue to drive app downloads and usage and could also stave off Google’s attempts to convince users to switch to Gemini or Google’s other AI-infused products.

But humans are creatures of habit, and many already use a Google product or service everyday — a platform advantage that the tech giant is already utilizing to siphon away ChatGPT users.

Silicon Valley’s history is built on startup disrupting the status quo.

Now, with OpenAI (smartly) looking over its shoulder, we get to watch the AI race heat up as Google, a former startup, gets its AI legs and hits its stride.

For OpenAI, it’s a reminder that tech giants can put up quite a fight when facing the prospect of being disrupted — and sometimes, can turn the tables.

“I try not to think about competitors too much,” Altman said last May before critiquing Google’s aesthetic.

It sounds like those days are gone.